AG’s donors do well with state contracts
Maybe it’s just a coincidence that some of Attorney General Jim Hood’s largest campaign supporters also happen to get a big slice of the state’s litigation business he farms out to private attorneys.
The appearance, though, is not good. The system needs to change either to bring more competition to how these contracts are awarded, or to prohibit the attorney general from receiving campaign donations from those who do business with his office.
Hood defends the system he uses. He claims that the contracts, worth potentially millions of dollars in contingency fees, are awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis. Whoever comes to the attorney general first with a novel idea for suing on the state’s behalf gets the business. If it’s an out-of-state firm, Hood says, he leaves it to the lawyers to pick the Mississippi firm with which they associate. The contract is then put out for anyone to examine its details.
Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, in his current job and his prior one as state auditor, has made it his mission to reform the system. He says the Legislature, not the attorney general, should be the one appropriating legal fees to outside counsel. Bryant’s successor as auditor, Stacey Pickering, has picked up the mantle.
Undoubtedly, there is a political angle in this battle. Bryant and Pickering are Republicans, and Hood a Democrat. Bryant is almost certain to run for governor in 2011, and Hood is considering it.
Nevertheless, the state needs to distance the attorney general from the people who get rich doing the state’s business.
Greenwood Commonwealth
2/15/10
